THIS SUMMER'S MOST infectious case of sequel-itis need notemanate from the Star Wars stable or come with dictatorial
orders to "nod ya head" à la Men In Black II.
Nope. Humble in conception but hypnotically kaleidoscopic in execution,
Junk Film 2is a batch of tasty nuggets from Four Star
Theater owner Frank Lee's personal cache of films. The catch is, the
whole shebang is fiendishly stuck on shuffle play. In the tradition
of the first Junk Film (which played at the Four Star scant months
ago), the follow-up is composed of 9 or 10 final reels of various kung
fu and Mandarin swordplay films, randomly stitched together. This Burroughs-ian
cut-up works both ways, showcasing seldom-seen films and also revealing
the inner workings (and funny subtitle semiotics) of the cinema of ass
kicking. Junk Film 2 might even be stronger than its predecessor,
boasting slightly more in the way of star power and even rarer titles.
The show begins with the finale of Hong Kong  Tokyo 
Macao, a mid-'60s Japanese spy filmthat features a proto-John
Woo shoot-out involving a speedboat chase and 50-odd participants, two
of them top yakuza stars Tetsuro Tanba and Koji Tsuruta. Next up: Avenger,
and with it comes a hail of blows from toothy Yasuaki Kurata, who wields
a pair of tonfa against a guy with a bald spot and a bow tie for control
of the lucrative woodpile trade. Lines like "I must perish you!"
and "It's you silly chit" populate Filial Son, a mad
dash through dusty gravel pits in search of missing treasure. Fairy
Fox and Ghost is the mandatory surrealist mind wrecker, featuring
a bucktoothed albino woman who projects steam out of her mouth and turns
into a giant rubber snake before being religiously defeated by an emissary
of the Buddha. Swallow KnightHowl, from1966,
is the eldest of the bunch and one of the oldest martial arts films
you're likely to see on a big screen, complete with pre-Bruce Lee sped-up
fight scenes. No question about it. This is the kung fu equivalent of
a pub crawl or eating only the Crunch Berries out of the box. "Are
you people tired of living?" a character in one violet-tinged rarity
asks. Not so long as the tantalizing possibility of a Junk Film 3
exists.

'Junk Film 2' plays Thurs/11, Four Star. See Movie Clock
for show times.

Patrick Macias is the author of TokyoScope: The Japanese Cult
Film Companion.